Is there anything in all the world that can evoke more hope for the future than the birth of a baby?
William David Talley was born this past week on Veterans Day, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, at just past 11:00 a.m.
My newest grandchild will grow up in a world that may appear to be quite a bit different from mine - so vastly dissimilar that I might scarcely recognize much of it.
In fact, at least at first glance, William’s world may appear to be “less hopeful” than my own.
It reminds me of the first time I walked through a graveyard at night. Since I could not see the future and did not know what lie ahead in the darkness, my mind imagined all kinds of fearful things.
If William lives out a standard human life span, he will come to know many things that lie ahead in the darkness.
William will almost certainly live to see the world’s natural environment change drastically - perhaps even catastrophically. For those of us who have cared enough to look, the handwriting has been on the wall for some time now. His grandchildren will know a world where many of nature’s most wondrous creatures are no more … being driven to extinction by the current short-sighted, largely human-induced global climate change that we, as a species, somehow (so confoundingly and self-destructively) just don’t seem to want to confront. The world’s climate is changing much too quickly and drastically for an untold number of living things to adapt in time to survive.
William will likely live to see the use of nuclear weapons … and perhaps even a nuclear war. In probability terms, their eventual use is virtually certain. Humanity has proven throughout history, time and again, our immense collective appetite for violence. Indeed, one may well state that the study of human history is largely the study of war.
William will likely live to see rampant new viruses destroy millions of the human race. (Quite a paradox, indeed, because most scientists don’t classify viruses as even being a living thing.)
William will possibly live to see the beginning of a new race of beings … part human, part machine. It is far from mere science fiction that in the not too distant future William may even become ‘fully machine” himself, having his mind downloaded onto a computer … where he can live as an artificially intelligent being for eons. (Yes, that possibility/probability, though seemingly miraculous and wonderful, still disturbs the “fully human” in me mightily.)
There’s a pretty fair chance that William will live in a world where it is possible to have his own children genetically engineered. Whether such a thing is good or bad is not within my capability to decide. Any new technology is often deemed to be “evil” by the masses. We humans have always been at least somewhat fearful of new ways to do things. And sometimes, rightly so.
The fact is, we have always faced a brave new world.
(Even just a few short years ago, who among us could have imagined that AI would become so ubiquitous and almighty as it is now? And there may very well yet be something even more “everything, everywhere, all the time” on the near event horizon.)
Along our long collective journey we humans have developed a most formidable weapon of survival; we have become Planet Earth’s most adaptable mammal. We have learned how to adjust to virtually any climate, environment, or social situation under the sun. We can even survive deep beneath the ocean and far into outer space.
When we come face-to-face with a seemingly insurmountable problem, there’s a darn good chance we humans can use our advanced technology and elaborately honed social skills to collectively solve it.
And if our big brains and high tech can’t solve a perceived problem? Then we can learn how to adapt to it.
We humans can learn not to be afraid when we walk through graveyards at night. In a word, we can learn to “adapt” to most any situation.
My advice to William would be, “Whatever your brave new world may throw at you, don’t fear it. Don’t dread it. Don’t hate it. Instead, be brave. Adapt and embrace it.”
“But there is one more thing … and it may be the greatest thing of all. Indeed, it may be the most powerful thing in all the Universe. Never be afraid to love. Love really does conquer all … indeed, it may be the greatest “adaptation” of all … and remember, William - love comes in all kinds and sizes and shapes and ways. Love will always be the right thing."
“There you have it, William. May you learn to embrace your brave new world, whatever it may hold.”